Modern History

The Man of Business as a Man of Imagination – Edited by Desmond Eyles, colour portrait frontispiece, appendices and index, xiv & 218 pp, brown cloth in d/w, closed top edges of pages a little spotted, d/w a little creased, otherwise in very good condition, Hutchinson 1970

23.2 x 15 cm, 580g, ISBN 0 09103 590 2

The Victorian potter, and a personal friend of Gosse.  Doulton’s son commissioned Gosse to write this biography in 1899, but Doulton’s two daughters required so many alterations (mainly to remove references to the family's humble origins) that Gosse regarded the book as emasculated, and it was never published. 

The editor wrote a history of the Royal Doulton Potteries, and was given a manuscript copy of this biography.  He found he could restore the text to its original form, or something very close to it, and managed to arrange for its first publication on the 150th anniversary of Sir Henry’s birth.  See the description (below) from the dustwrapper flap.

Long out of print.